The present invention relates to an actuating shaft, in particular of a suction tube arrangement, with an actuating element for operating the actuating shaft. The invention also relates to a method for producing an actuating shaft.
The following discussion of related art is provided to assist the reader in understanding the advantages of the invention, and is not to be construed as an admission that this related art is prior art to this invention.
Actuating shafts are used, in particular, for suction tube arrangements where at least one suction tube opening can be closed and opened with at least one cover element arranged on the actuating shaft or actuatable by the actuating shaft. The actuating shaft is typically supported for rotation about a rotation axis. For this purpose, at least one bearing may be associated with the actuating shaft. The actuating shaft can hereby be moved to an arbitrary rotation angle position within a predetermined angular range. The actuating element which is used to actuate the actuating shaft is provided for this purpose. Typically, a drive cooperates with the actuating element for actuating the actuating shaft and moving the actuating shaft to the desired rotation angle position. The actuating element is thus provided to apply the torque from the drive to the actuating shaft. For example, the actuating element can be operatively connected with the drive by way of a coupling linkage. The actuating element serves herein as carrier element.
Conventional actuating elements are constructed as ball-shaped heads coupled to a coupling linkage and constructed as a single piece in conjunction with an section of the shaft of the throttle element. However, this results in a comparatively high manufacturing complexity, because the ball-shaped head is already formed, for example, during and in conjunction with the manufacture of the section. In addition, a cover plate must be formed on the shaft. Several manufacturing steps are therefore required for producing the throttle element.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved actuating shaft which can be manufactured more cost-effectively.